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Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Edens Partners With Canadian Firm to Bring Residential Units to Andrews Square

Toronto-based Great Gulf Residential is partnering with Columbia, South Carolina-based Edens on a new residential development in Buckhead's West Village. The project, which will include residential units built over street-level retail according to a source familiar with the deal, will rise from a largely vacant segment of Andrews Square shopping center.

In a deal that closed February 7, an affiliate of Great Gulf purchased about an acre of the Andrews Square shopping center for $11 million, according to Fulton County property records. The property purchasedincludes a two-story building that once housed Souper Jenny, among others, before it relocated to the Atlanta History Center in early 2016. The parcel also includes a large surface parking lot that fronts Cains Hill Place. Michal Evans, a popular floral business, is located in a freestanding building adjacent to the development with popular millennial bar Big Sky and fitness facility Pinnacle Fitness across Cains Hills from the project.

Overall, Andrews Square, which Edens purchased in 2014 for $19.1 million, is about 2.6 acres and was built in 1975.

Plans call for Edens to remain the retail developer and for Great Gulf to develop the residential portion of the project.

The two companies have an existing partnership in Washington D.C. where Great Gulf plans to develop condos as part of Edens' Union Market development. The project, first proposed in 2016, could include multiple condo towers, but neighbors are not happy with the planned amount of development and have taken their fight to court.

The remaining portion of Andrews Square features a total of 21 suites, of which only three are currently listed as available. The three vacant spaces total 6,148 square feet. Edens has lured a number of new and existing businesses to the center in recent years. Henri’s Bakery relocated to Andrews Square last spring (their former space was sold for a separate multi-family development) while current anchor Lucy's Market (8,694 square feet) relocated to Andrew Square in late 2016 from their former space (also slated for residential development) adjacent to the St. Regis hotel on West Paces Ferry Road. Bar Americano and Bar Crema, both owned by Atlanta-based 10APART restaurant group and SAMA, a healthy eatery from Shannon Salter Sliger who previously founded Dtox Organic Juice and Junk, both recently opened in the center.

Buckhead's West Village has been an especially hot multifamily construction market.

The 353 unit Hanover Buckhead Village opened in January, while nearby, The Irby, A Broadstone Community, is under-construction and when complete, will rise 12 stories and feature 277 units in addition to street level retail. Also nearby, Lennar Residential plans to start construction on their 20 story, 291 unit apartment complex next month.

Camden Properties also recently began site work on the latest phase of their Camden Paces development. The new phase, which will reportedly be comprised of two towers, will bring another 365 apartments to the area.

The Charles, the one condo project underway in the immediate area, is under construction at Peachtree Road and Bolling Way, and when completed next year, will be 18 stories but offer a mere 57 units.

Great Gulf, which was established in Canada in 1975, owns and develops office, retail, residential, industrial and resort properties throughout North America. Through their subsidiaries, they have built more than 50,000 homes in 18 cities. According to their website, "in the USA residential communities are sold under the Ashton Woods brand."

Atlanta-based Ashton Woods, a prolific home-builder, has over a dozen communities open or under construction in metro Atlanta. Ashton Woods is known for single family home development but also builds town home and loft units. In metro Atlanta, the firm's OTP developments have been largely single family, and their intown development has been exclusively townhomes thus far.

Among Ashton Woods' Atlanta area developments are the town home development of Dupont Place on North Druid Hills near the Leafmore neighborhood. Dupont Place will feature 72 town homes where once Grand Slam Golf & Baseball operated. Aria, a sprawling 600-home development on Abernathy Road in Sandy Springs that will include single family, loft and town home options and replaces a number of things, most notably the historic Glenridge Hall, is also in the Ashton Woods pipeline.

Construction on the Andrews Square project is expected to begin in 2019.

What are your thoughts on this development? Do you think the area needs more units - condo, apartment, or otherwise? If you could live in any neighborhood in metro Atlanta, where would you want to live?